After Love Leaves by Michelle Alstead

After Love Leaves by Michelle Alstead

When Brad Sorenson crossed paths with Zoe O’Loughlin at a high school graduation party, the connection was undeniable. He noticed her when no one else did; she inspired him to want more out of life. But it would be years before they’d meet again…and in the most unlikely of places. Brad was looking for a good time online, not love. But Zoe was so sweet, so kind. Everything about her was perfect—until she fell in love with him. Zoe doesn’t know why Brad left her standing in an airport; he won’t return her calls or texts. With her self-esteem and dreams shattered, she can’t imagine ever loving anyone else. A single phone call changes Brad’s life forever. Now he wants just one thing: to make amends with the only woman that’s ever mattered.

Read an excerpt from the book:

Brad stood up and stretched, his eyes lingering on Zoe’s form as it grew smaller and smaller, until she disappeared into the distance. She wasn’t the best-looking girl at the party, but her blue-gray eyes were pretty and he liked the freckles sprinkled across her naturally fair skin. In a town full of fake-n-bake girls, it was nice to meet someone who wasn’t actively promoting skin cancer or coating their face with ten layers of makeup.

Zoe had seemed smart—a girl with her own mind who wouldn’t come easily. Smart girls were into more than keg-fueled parties and begging him to borrow his dad’s Beamer for a rager in Seattle.

Brad shoved both hands into the pockets of his slouch jeans. He never asked girls for their number. His dad was a doctor with a million-dollar practice and a house on Lake Chelan. His mother was a federal court judge with enough clout to expunge a juvie record with a 30-second phone call. Brad could attract small-town teenage girls with as little as an annoyed glance in their direction. But Zoe wasn’t the type to hit on him; she was obviously too nice of a girl.

Michelle Alstead is a single, divorced mom of a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder, who tries to promote autism awareness and advocate for gender equality while raising Sheldon Cooper and searching for some semblance of a love life. Michelle has experienced a wide-range of reasons for being dumped by the opposite sex (her favorite reason of all time – “she wasn’t crazy enough and crazy girls are so much fun”). She maintains that she is both Irish and Spanish and can bring the “crazy” just as good as the next woman. This author copes with the difficulties of raising her challenging child and failing at love, by eating copious amounts of chocolate, binge watching Netflix late at night, and writing novels about characters who find happy endings. Every great story has a grain of truth. Truth inspires freedom. Michelle has decided to free herself by acknowledging that life can be ugly, brutal, and wickedly unfair. Her stories aren’t the typical romances or the standard young adult fare. She seeks to be honest in her storytelling rather than playing it safe. Blending in wasn’t much fun anyway.